Chad Smith, NAFB News Service

The American Petroleum Institute recently filed a petition with the Environmental Protection Agency requesting a reconsideration of the 2020 Renewable Fuel Standard final rule. A coalition of ethanol and farm groups sent a letter to the EPA last week in opposition to the petition. API claims the EPA needs to reconsider the rule because of the coalition’s recent Tenth Circuit Court victory that overturned the small refinery exemptions illegally granted by the EPA. API also argues in its petition that the 2020 RFS rule should be revised to eliminate measures that prospectively “reallocate” RFS blending obligations expected to be lost to refinery waivers. The Petroleum Institute says the reallocation of expected waivers is no longer needed because the Tenth Circuit Court decision should significantly curtail the number of waivers granted. However, EPA hasn’t confirmed that it will implement the tenets of the court decision nationwide, meaning reconsideration of the 2020 RFS rule would be very premature. “There is no basis for revisiting or modifying EPA’s current approach until EPA acknowledges that the central tenets of the Tenth Circuit Court’s decision are appropriately applied across the country,” the groups say in their letter.